Bill Text: IL HB2328 | 2019-2020 | 101st General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Amends the Hospital Licensing Act. Provides that employment agreements between hospitals and physicians may not contain any provision to restrict the ability of a physician to leave employment with the hospital or hospital affiliate and immediately continue to practice in the same field of medicine in the same geographic area.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-03-29 - Rule 19(a) / Re-referred to Rules Committee [HB2328 Detail]
Download: Illinois-2019-HB2328-Introduced.html
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1 | AN ACT concerning regulation.
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2 | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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3 | represented in the General Assembly:
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4 | Section 5. The Hospital Licensing Act is amended by | |||||||||||||||||||
5 | changing Section 10.8 as follows:
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6 | (210 ILCS 85/10.8)
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7 | Sec. 10.8. Requirements for employment of physicians.
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8 | (a) Physician employment by hospitals and hospital | |||||||||||||||||||
9 | affiliates. Employing
entities may
employ physicians to | |||||||||||||||||||
10 | practice medicine in all of its branches provided that the
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11 | following
requirements are met:
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12 | (1) The employed physician is a member of the medical | |||||||||||||||||||
13 | staff of either the
hospital or hospital affiliate. If a | |||||||||||||||||||
14 | hospital affiliate decides to have a
medical staff, its
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15 | medical staff shall be organized in accordance with written | |||||||||||||||||||
16 | bylaws where the
affiliate
medical staff is responsible for | |||||||||||||||||||
17 | making recommendations to the governing body
of
the | |||||||||||||||||||
18 | affiliate regarding all quality assurance activities and | |||||||||||||||||||
19 | safeguarding
professional
autonomy. The affiliate medical | |||||||||||||||||||
20 | staff bylaws may not be unilaterally changed
by the
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21 | governing body of the affiliate. Nothing in this Section | |||||||||||||||||||
22 | requires hospital
affiliates
to have a medical staff.
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23 | (2) Independent
physicians, who are not employed by an |
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1 | employing entity,
periodically review the quality of
the | ||||||
2 | medical
services provided by the employed
physician to | ||||||
3 | continuously improve patient care.
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4 | (3) The employing entity and the employed physician | ||||||
5 | sign a statement
acknowledging
that the employer shall not | ||||||
6 | unreasonably exercise control, direct, or
interfere with
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7 | the employed physician's exercise and execution of his or | ||||||
8 | her professional
judgment in a manner that
adversely | ||||||
9 | affects the employed physician's ability to provide | ||||||
10 | quality care to
patients. This signed statement shall take | ||||||
11 | the form of a provision in the
physician's
employment | ||||||
12 | contract or a separate signed document from the employing | ||||||
13 | entity to
the
employed physician. This statement shall | ||||||
14 | state: "As the employer of a
physician,
(employer's name) | ||||||
15 | shall not unreasonably exercise control, direct, or
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16 | interfere with
the employed physician's exercise and | ||||||
17 | execution of his or her professional
judgment in a manner | ||||||
18 | that
adversely affects the employed physician's ability to | ||||||
19 | provide quality care to
patients." The employment | ||||||
20 | agreement may not contain any provision to restrict the | ||||||
21 | ability of a physician to leave employment with the | ||||||
22 | hospital or hospital affiliate and immediately continue to | ||||||
23 | practice in the same field of medicine in the same | ||||||
24 | geographic area, often referred to as restrictive | ||||||
25 | covenants or non-compete clauses.
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26 | (4) The employing entity shall establish a
mutually |
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1 | agreed upon independent
review
process
with criteria
under | ||||||
2 | which an employed physician
may seek review of the alleged | ||||||
3 | violation
of this Section by physicians who are not | ||||||
4 | employed by the employing
entity. The affiliate may arrange | ||||||
5 | with the hospital medical
staff to conduct these reviews.
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6 | The independent physicians
shall make findings and | ||||||
7 | recommendations to the employing entity and the
employed
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8 | physician within 30 days of the conclusion of the gathering | ||||||
9 | of the relevant
information.
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10 | (b) Definitions. For the purpose of this Section:
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11 | "Employing entity" means a hospital licensed under the | ||||||
12 | Hospital Licensing Act
or a hospital
affiliate.
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13 | "Employed physician" means a physician who receives an IRS | ||||||
14 | W-2 form, or any
successor
federal income tax form, from an | ||||||
15 | employing entity.
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16 | "Hospital" means a hospital licensed under the Hospital | ||||||
17 | Licensing Act, except
county hospitals as defined in subsection | ||||||
18 | (c) of Section 15-1 of the Illinois Public Aid
Code.
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19 | "Hospital affiliate" means a corporation, partnership, | ||||||
20 | joint venture, limited
liability company,
or similar | ||||||
21 | organization, other than a hospital, that is devoted primarily | ||||||
22 | to
the provision, management,
or support of health care | ||||||
23 | services and that directly or indirectly controls, is
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24 | controlled by, or is under
common control of the hospital. | ||||||
25 | "Control" means having at least an equal or a
majority | ||||||
26 | ownership
or membership interest. A hospital affiliate shall be |
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1 | 100% owned or controlled
by any combination
of hospitals, their | ||||||
2 | parent corporations, or physicians licensed to practice
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3 | medicine in all its branches
in Illinois.
"Hospital affiliate" | ||||||
4 | does not include a health maintenance
organization regulated | ||||||
5 | under the Health Maintenance
Organization Act.
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6 | "Physician" means an individual licensed to practice | ||||||
7 | medicine in all its
branches in Illinois.
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8 | "Professional judgment" means the exercise of a | ||||||
9 | physician's independent
clinical judgment
in providing | ||||||
10 | medically appropriate diagnoses, care, and treatment to a
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11 | particular patient at a
particular time. Situations in which an | ||||||
12 | employing entity does not interfere
with an employed
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13 | physician's professional judgment include, without limitation, | ||||||
14 | the following:
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15 | (1) practice restrictions based upon peer review of the | ||||||
16 | physician's
clinical
practice to assess quality of care and | ||||||
17 | utilization of resources in accordance
with
applicable | ||||||
18 | bylaws;
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19 | (2) supervision of physicians by appropriately | ||||||
20 | licensed medical
directors,
medical school faculty, | ||||||
21 | department chairpersons or directors, or
supervising | ||||||
22 | physicians;
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23 | (3) written statements of ethical or religious | ||||||
24 | directives; and
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25 | (4) reasonable referral restrictions that do not, in | ||||||
26 | the reasonable
professional
judgment of the physician, |
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1 | adversely affect the health or welfare of the
patient.
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2 | (c) Private enforcement. An employed physician aggrieved | ||||||
3 | by a violation of
this Act may
seek to obtain an injunction or | ||||||
4 | reinstatement of employment with the employing
entity as the | ||||||
5 | court
may deem appropriate. Nothing in this Section limits or | ||||||
6 | abrogates any common
law cause of action.
Nothing in this | ||||||
7 | Section shall be deemed to alter the law of negligence.
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8 | (d) Department enforcement. The Department may enforce the | ||||||
9 | provisions of
this Section,
but nothing in this Section shall | ||||||
10 | require or permit the Department to license,
certify, or | ||||||
11 | otherwise
investigate the activities of a
hospital affiliate | ||||||
12 | not otherwise required to be licensed by the
Department.
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13 | (e) Retaliation prohibited. No employing entity shall | ||||||
14 | retaliate against any
employed
physician for requesting a | ||||||
15 | hearing or review under this Section.
No action may be taken | ||||||
16 | that
affects
the ability of a physician to practice during this | ||||||
17 | review, except in
circumstances
where the medical staff bylaws | ||||||
18 | authorize summary suspension.
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19 | (f) Physician collaboration. No employing entity shall | ||||||
20 | adopt or enforce,
either formally or
informally, any policy, | ||||||
21 | rule, regulation, or practice inconsistent with
the provision | ||||||
22 | of adequate
collaboration, including medical direction of | ||||||
23 | licensed advanced practice registered
nurses or supervision
of | ||||||
24 | licensed physician assistants and delegation to other | ||||||
25 | personnel under
Section 54.5 of the Medical
Practice Act of | ||||||
26 | 1987.
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1 | (g) Physician disciplinary actions. Nothing in this | ||||||
2 | Section shall be
construed to limit or
prohibit the governing | ||||||
3 | body of an employing entity or its medical staff, if
any, from | ||||||
4 | taking
disciplinary actions against a physician as permitted by | ||||||
5 | law.
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6 | (h) Physician review. Nothing in this Section shall be | ||||||
7 | construed to prohibit
a hospital or
hospital affiliate from | ||||||
8 | making a determination not to pay for a particular
health care | ||||||
9 | service or to
prohibit a medical group, independent practice | ||||||
10 | association, hospital medical
staff, or hospital
governing | ||||||
11 | body from enforcing reasonable peer review or utilization | ||||||
12 | review
protocols or determining
whether the employed physician | ||||||
13 | complied with those protocols.
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14 | (i) Review. Nothing in this Section may be used or | ||||||
15 | construed to establish
that any activity
of a hospital or | ||||||
16 | hospital affiliate is subject to review under the Illinois
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17 | Health Facilities Planning Act.
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18 | (j) Rules. The Department shall adopt any
rules necessary | ||||||
19 | to
implement this Section.
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20 | (Source: P.A. 100-201, eff. 8-18-17; 100-513, eff. 1-1-18 .)
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